Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 121(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 121(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
That’s what I’ve been asking myself. This girl is the one I’ve been waiting for. The one I want. The one who lights my soul up like a Fourth of July bonfire.
It’s not lost on me that I’m now (maybe permanently) stuck on a desert island and I’m single-mindedly focused on her. She’s all I can think about. I can feel my obsession with her growing like the fire between us, devouring everything in its path.
“You’re going to eat properly from now on,” I promise her. “Three meals a day. I’ll make sure of it.”
I can hear her stomach grumbling as I start roasting the yam over the flame.
“I’m taking care of you now, Wendy. You have nothing to worry about anymore.”
Something comes over her face as she watches me. I can’t tell what she’s thinking and that drives me crazy. I want to know everything about her. Everything. Every thought, every feeling, every want, every need. I want to know so I can fulfill them all. So I can be the perfect guy for her. I’ll be whatever she needs.
She’s watching me curiously as she leans forward and strokes her shins. Those stunning green eyes slide down my arms and she licks her lips.
I tend to the fire, tearing my greedy eyes away from her, so she can look at me all she wants without knowing I’m watching her checking me out.
“I’ll clean the fish by the stream,” I say when the yam is nice and done. “I don’t want to make a mess in our new kitchen area. Here, try this.”
I break off a piece of the yam and hand it to her.
She feels it, smells it, and then takes a bite. Her eyes light up.
“Wow!” she says as she nods her head eagerly while taking another larger bite. “This is soooo good. I can’t believe I was going to bed hungry and this was only a few feet from my head!”
I hate hearing that she went to bed hungry. It hurts inside to even think about my wild girl going without everything she needs.
“Those days and nights are over,” I tell her. “You won’t go hungry again. I promise it.”
I don’t care if I have to swim out into the middle of the ocean and strangle a great white shark with my bare hands, this sweet girl is getting three meals a day.
“Thanks, Ethan,” she says softly between bites. “I’m really happy you landed here, even though it sucks majorly for you.”
“It’s not so bad,” I say with a smile as I look at her.
She smiles back and then I take the fish to the stream and clean it out.
While I’m there, I spot some more food.
There are crayfish scurrying around inside the stream and frogs and salamanders hiding between the rocks. I grab a few crayfish but leave the frogs. Something tells me that the romantic night I have planned will be ruined if I show up with dead frogs for dinner.
“Oh, you found my little toe-nibblers,” she says when I return with the crayfish. “What are you going to do with those?”
“Dinner,” I say with a grin.
She looks shocked. “You can eat those?”
“With fire, we can eat almost anything.”
“Huh,” she says as she looks at me for a long moment before catching herself and quickly turning away.
“How long until nightfall?” I ask as I set up the fish filets beside the fire. I’ll have to eventually make a cooking grate with some metal salvaged from the plane, but for now, I can put it on this flat rock and let it cook slowly.
“A few hours,” she says as she glances up at the sky. “I think.”
“Let’s eat this and then you can show me the rest of the island. I saw a bit of rocky coast when I was flying over. There’s probably lots of seafood there—fish, muscles, clams, lobster, stingrays, you name it.”
“Okay, yeah! That sounds like a great idea.”
“And on the way back, we’ll swing by the plane. I’ll try to remove the seats so you can have a proper place to sleep tonight. I don’t want you sleeping on that hard ground again. You deserve better than that.”
She looks like she’s going to cry with gratitude. “Thank you, Ethan. I mean it. You’re like a dream come true.”
I want to tell her that she’s the one who’s a dream come true, but I have to take it slow. I can’t be unloading all of these intense feelings I have inside onto her or she’ll freak out and close up. She hasn’t seen anyone for months and the first person she sees can’t be already proclaiming their love for her after five minutes. She’s not ready for that. But one day, she will be.
I can wait. I’ve been waiting for her for the past thirty-two years, I can wait a little longer.